Epilogue
"Epilogue" is the second season finale of . In addition, this episode also tied together and continued some plot points from the canceled . This episode focuses around Batman, revealing a dark secret. Plot After the last world crisis the Justice League faced, Amanda Waller started becoming their ally, and in her role as US Ambassador to the Justice League, got to know Batman, very well, gaining a large respect for him. As time went on, Waller saw him age, and realized he wouldn't be around forever. However, in her mind, the world needed a Batman. Waller used her old Project Cadmus contacts to launch "Project Batman Beyond". She found a young couple, Dr. Warren and Mary McGinnis, that was almost an identical psychiatric match for Dr. Thomas and Martha Wayne. When Warren went in for what he thought was a flu shot, his reproductive DNA was overwritten by that of Bruce Wayne's. A year later, Terry McGinnis was born, genetically the son of Mrs. Mary McGinnis and Bruce Wayne. Genetics, however, do not alone make a Batman, so Waller hired an assassin to kill Terry's parents when he was eight years old as the three of them were leaving a movie theater showing The Grey Ghost Strikes hoping that the same tragedy would cause the same response. However, the Phantasm couldn't bring herself to kill them, and the project was effectively scrapped. With the McGinnises spared, Matt McGinnis would be born. However, nine years later, due to a cruel twist of fate, Terry's father was killed.In , "Rebirth, Part II" which set a chain of events that turned Terry into Batman.Idem, "Rebirth, Part I" Waller implies that she believed it was a form of divine interference which led to the death of his father because it was still Terry's fate to become Batman. Fifteen years later, when Bruce needed a new kidney, Terry was checked for compatibility. He was surprised that his DNA was similar to Bruce's. It took him months to finally run a DNA test, and the result is that he is the son of Bruce Wayne, not Warren McGinnis. When Terry learns that he is (genetically) the son of his mentor, he is at first angry, thinking that Bruce planned the whole thing. He imagines how he confronts Bruce Wayne with this information, ends his relationship with Dana, and turns his back on the Justice League Unlimited after their latest battle with the Iniquity Collective, saying "Batman is dead". Convinced that Bruce won't tell him the whole story, Terry breaks into Waller's home to get the story straight from her. From Waller, Terry finds that Bruce is innocent, and he became Batman purely by chance. Amanda's advice to Terry that "if you want to have a little better life than the old man's, take care of the people who love you. Or don't; it's your choice." Taking this advice to his heart, he returns to the Wayne Manor, prepares to propose to Dana, shares a moment of mostly unspoken reconciliation with Bruce, and takes off to speak with Superman on a case. Continuity * The episode takes place fifteen years after the end of , presumably Terry is thirty-one and Bruce is eighty-five. * When questioning Bruce about the Cadmus procedure that could have altered his DNA, Bruce says that those procedures have been illegal for decades. Terry responds, "Didn't stop the Joker from using them on Tim Drake," referencing the Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker movie. * The movie Terry and his family see when the tragedy is supposed to happen is called "The Grey Ghost Strikes". * Amanda's assassin is Andrea Beaumont, a.k.a. the Phantasm, whose whereabouts have been unknown ever since the events of Batman: Mask of the Phantasm. Background Information Production Notes * This episode used story elements from a Batman Beyond movie that would have had Selina Kyle/Catwoman as the person responsible for the cloning of Bruce Wayne instead of Amanda Waller. Due to the dark tones of Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, however, the second movie was rejected. The creative team decided to tie it in with the Cadmus arc. http://jl.toonzone.net/episode50/episode50.htm Trivia * The episode ends with a scene featuring a flying Terry silhouetted against buildings and startling an airborne police craft, is a reference to the opening scene of "On Leather Wings," the very first episode of the original Batman: The Animated Series. Kevin Conroy also played one of the officers on the police craft. http://forums.toonzone.net/showpost.php?p=1799617&postcount=303 * The episode was written and produced before Justice League Unlimited was renewed for an additional season, so the episode was also intended as an epilogue for the entire DC Animated Universe started in , all the way to . http://jl.toonzone.net/episode50/episode50.htm * Although it is ambiguous on-screen, producer/writer Dwayne McDuffie confirmed that the black-and-white sequences are Terry's imagination of what will happen if he resigns as Batman, not flashbacks. * According to writer Dwayne McDuffie, Bruce, as the world's greatest detective, was aware that Terry and Matt are his genetic offspring some point after Terry assumed the role of Batman and realized the machination of Amanda Waller and Project Cadmus, but would never bring it up as he wanted Terry to be his own man, and out of respect for Warren McGinnis as well since he was the one who raised him since birth. http://jl.toonzone.net/episode50/episode50.htm * According to Bruce Timm, Wayne is also the biological father of Terry's younger brother Matt. http://jl.toonzone.net/episode50/episode50.htm Cast Uncredited Appearances *Warren McGinnis *Mary McGinnis *Phantasm *The Royal Flush Gang members: **Jack **King **Queen **Ten *Justice League Unlimited: **Aquagirl **Warhawk *Justice League: **Hawkgirl **Stargirl **Red Tornado *Iniquity Collective: **Inque **Shriek **Stalker Quotes Footnotes Category:JLU episodes